HTC ThunderBolt software update v2.11.605.19 710RD now available OTA

HTC Thunderbolt owners have had a bit of a rough ride thus far when it comes to software updates. Now though, Verizon is pushing out the latest non Ice Cream Sandwich update to address some issues that have long been bothering folks. The update shows as v2.11.605.19 710RD and here's what Verizon states is corrected:

This particular update appeared in RUU format back in April so you may already have it if you were adventurous and loaded it up. If not, go ahead and check for system updates. It'll either be there waiting or it will be along shortly for you. Need to know more? Folks in the Android Central forums have already gone through it so head on into the forums below to discuss it some more.

EVO 4G LTE bootloader can be unlocked just fine

If you were wondering about the EVO 4G LTE bootloader, or were a bit worried after learning that AT&T's decided to go back to its not-so-friendly ways, we're happy to tell you that, yes, you can easily unlock the Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE bootloader. All you need is the Android SDK, the instructions from HTCDev, and a few minutes to spare.

For you folks new to Android, why would you want to unlock the bootloader? It's the gatekeeper to some serious modding of Android phones. Some of us like unlocked bootloaders so we can do full backups of our devices. Others like to run custom ROMs. And others do it just for the openy nature of things.

Sony Xperia GX and SX reportedly coming to Japan in July and August

Sony announced the Xperia GX and Xperia SX just a couple of days ago with an estimated "summer" launch window for both devices. But today leaked documentation obtained by XperiaBlog offers a little more granular detail. According to info obtained by the site, the Xperia GX will arrive in July, with the Xperia SX following shortly after in August. (This roughly matches a leaked Sony roadmap which appeared back in January.)

The documents also reveal plans for NTT Docomo branding atop the Xperia GX's 4.6-inch screen, as well as size and weight info. Apparently the device will weigh 127 grams and measure 131mm x 69mm x 10.2mm. As it features the same arched back design as the Xperia Arc, the thinnest point of the GX measures 8.6mm, same as the Galaxy S III. Apparently it'll also ship with a 1700mAh battery, which should hopefully be enough to power its 1.5GHz dual-core CPU and 720p Sony Reality Display. As we reported earlier in the week, other specs include a 13MP rear camera with 1080p video recording, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.

And in Xperia SX news, renders included in this latest leak reveal that the phone will apparently ship in pink and orange, in addition to the already-revealed black and white flavors.

Unfortunately there's no news on when (or if) either device will see an international release. Sony tells us that these phones are "designed specifically for the Japanese market," adding "we have not made any announcements with regards to possible availability in other markets."

If you like poring through Japanese technical documents, you'll find more info from today's leak over at the source link.

It's been just a week since we saw the Samsung Galaxy S III unveiled at London's Earl's Court arena, but already the international variants of the device are starting to appear. The first is from Korea Telecom, and comes with the snappy interim title of SHV-E170K. The device, which you'll see over on the left in the photo above, looks like a cross between a Galaxy Player 7.0 and a Galaxy S III (and also bears more than a passing resemblance to this alleged S III leak from back in March.)

It's a bit more angular than the international Galaxy S III, but it's running the same combination of ICS and the TouchWiz "Nature UX" that you'll find on that phone. The SHV-E170K is confirmed to be an LTE-capable handset, but other specs have yet to be officially announced. Based on benchmark results, SammyHub​ postulates that it'll carry a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 chip, a 5MP rear camera, 1.3MP front-facer and a 4.3-inch qHD SuperAMOLED screen. Essentially, this is to the Galaxy S III what the HTC One S is to the One X.

No word on whether we'll see this thing outside of Korea, but we wouldn't be surprised to see a HSPA+ version of this thing in the months ahead, as Samsung brings its mid-range portfolio up-to-date.

O2 UK reveals new European roaming plans

Following the recent EU ruling on European roaming rates, O2 UK has announced its new "O2 Travel" service, which will launch from July. The service offers reduced European roaming charges compared to the networks' current price plans, which it'll have to abolish after the July deadline imposed by the EU. Instead of paying up to £40 for up to 50MB of Euro roaming data per month, O2 Travel will now offer 25MB each day, for a daily fee of £1.99. And voice calls are becoming cheaper too, with a one-off charge of 50p per call, with minutes being deducted from the customer's allowance for that month.

Interestingly, the new O2 Travel deals will also be available to O2 Pay As You Go customers -- traditionally PAYG users have been left in the lurch when trying to use mobile data aboard. Data costs the same as it does for contract customers, but there's a slightly different price plan for voice calls -- a 29p charge per call, then 8p per minute for the call's duration.

So good news for anyone roaming in Europe on O2, and we'd expect the other major British networks to reveal new roaming plans as the July deadline approaches.

Leaked Samsung device possibly headed to Sprint

Here we see an image of what is claimed to be the Samsung SPH-L300 which, based on its product code, appears to be destined for Sprint in the near future and the folks over at BriefMobile got the first look at this rumored device. If it hadn't already struck you as looking familiar with it's big silver chin, the HTC Nexus One comes to mind for us but the internals are a definite departure from that original Nexus phone.

Rumored to sport a Qualcomm MSM8960 processor (the Snapdragon S4 chip) which is the same unit as in the LTE enabled HTC One X and Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE, this phone should pack quite the punch should it come to fruition. Other features and specs this device is reported to have include 1 GB of RAM along with 4 GB of ROM, 4G LTE, NFC, and Bluetooth 4.0 all underneath Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich. However, the display resolution is quite disappointing at only 480x800. With all that hardware inside, we'd hope to see a 720p resolution display or at least a qHD display, but keep in mind this is still an unconfirmed device and that means things are subject to change. We'll bring you more info on this as it rolls in.

Verizon LTE spreading to more cities on the eastern seaboard

Verizon has pushed out a handful of press releases about LTE expansion, and if you live or play along the eastern seaboard of the U.S. you'll like the news. The LTE network is being expanded up and down the coast, from North Carolina to Cape Cod, and it's coming just in time for Memorial Day. Here's the new cities and dates:

Maryland (in service)

Ocean City (from Fenwick Island to South Ocean City)

Queen Anne’s

Kent

Talbot County

Chestertown

Queenstown

Easton

New York (in service)

Nassau County

Huntington

Suffolk County (eastern end)

Virginia (in service)

Virginia Beach (from Fort Story to Sandbridge)

Delaware (May 17)

Rehoboth Beach

Bethany Beach

Lewes

Seaford

Pennsylvania (May 17)

Lancaster

York

New Jersey (May 17)

Sea Bright

Monmouth Beach

Belmar

Point Pleasant

Toms River

Atlantic City

Cape May County

Massachusetts (May 17)

Barnstable

Bourne

Dennis

Falmouth

Mashpee

Sandwich

Yarmouth

North Carolina (coming by Memorial Day)

The Outer Banks (from Corolla to Hatteras)

It certainly looks to be fun in the sun for Verizon LTE subscribers. Keep your Android phones dry!

Virgin Mobile USA now taking pre-orders for the LG Optimus Elite

If you're looking to get in on a budget friendly Android device that also packs a little punch, Virgin Mobile USA has now opened the doors on their pre-orders of the LG Optimus Elite. Available on May 15th for only $150, the LG Optimus Elite will be the first device in the Virgin Mobile USA lineup to launch with both Google Wallet and NFC enabled. As for the specs, here is what you'll be getting:

Android 2.3 Gingerbread

3.5-inch touchscreen

800 MHz processor

5MP rear-facing camera

Looking to grab one for yourself or someone in your family? Check out the source link below to head on over to the Virgin Mobile USA pre-order site. Plus, don't forget to have a look at our previous hands-on with the device.

Virgin Media UK to stock the Samsung Galaxy S III 'this summer'

Just when you thought it was safe to step outside, another UK carrier comes forward with plans to stock the Samsung Galaxy S III. We already know the plans of the major carriers, and some of the unlocked SIM-free prices. Step forward Virgin Media though, who have announced their own decision to carry the latest Samsung flagship.

Pricing and availability are yet to be announced, beyond coming "this summer." Where Virgin stand out though, is their range of discounts for customers of their other services like TV and Broadband. Virgin Media customers could potentially be on to a winner with this one, so if you're one of them, it could be worth watching out for.

HTC EVO 4G LTE video walkthrough and not an unboxing

OK, folks. The Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE is in our hot little hands. We're on Day 1, and quite frankly we're already pretty impressed. Under the hood it's basically an HTC One X. But it's been redesigned, tweaked (and truth be told, improved) and launched as the EVO 4G LTE, the follow-up to the extremely popular EVO 4G.

Some quick thoughts:

The display is gorgeous. And it should be -- it's the same Super LCD 2 as on the One X.

Under the hood, it seems speedy enough. And it should be. It's the same processor as on the One X. (The Qualcomm version, that is.)

Sense 4 is great. And it should be. It's the same Sense 4 that's on the HTC One phones.

The camera is great. And it should be. It's exactly the same as what's on the HTC One phones.

The rear speaker is pretty good, too. A lot of you have been asking about that.

Our full review's coming. We like to actually use the phone first. Crazy, I know. But here's a quick video walkthrough answering some of the more burning questions that have been thrown our way.

Still want to know more? Our complete EVO 4G LTE review is well in the works. In the meantime, be sure to make your way into our EVO 4G LTE forums, where you'll you'll find the best info on the net. Huzzah!

Samsung Galaxy S III now available to pre-order at Vodafone UK

Vodafone is the latest UK network to announce its pre-order deals for the Galaxy S III, Samsung's upcoming quad-core beast. Voda's offering the 16GB on 24-month contracts starting at £41 per month. That's not a small amount of money, but Voda's throwing 900 minutes, unlimited texts and 2GB of data, in addition to a free Galaxy S III. If you're interested in the 32GB model, which is exclusive to Vodafone for the first month, that'll set you back £46 per month. That price will also get you bumped up to 1200 minutes, in addition to unlimited texts and 2GB.

Cheaper plans are available for both pebble blue and pearl white flavored Galaxy S III, starting at £26 per month, though you'll have to cough up £149 up-front if you choose this option. If it's SIM-free that you're after, then prices are currently hovering around the £500 mark.

Sony ST21i 'Tapioca' leaked again - ICS on a budget handset

It was just a few weeks ago that we got our first non-blurrycam look at the Sony ST21i "Tapioca," an upcoming ICS-toting budget handset from the Japanese manufacturer. Today it's cropped up yet again, in another unauthorized hands-on preview, this time from Russian site Mobile-Review. There's not a whole lot here we haven't seen before, but the preview does take a closer look at the Tapioca's software -- a similar package to what we've been seeing on other 2012 Sony phones -- as well as giving a confirmation of some rumored specs.

The details leaked today match what we've previously heard -- the Tapioca sports a 3.2-inch HVGA display, an 800MHz single-core CPU and 512MB of RAM. It's no multimedia powerhouse, but there should be enough computational grunt there to power ICS, as well as Sony's assortment of multimedia enhancements. More pics at the source link. According to a leaked Sony roadmap, the Tapioca could appear as early as June, around the €150 price point.

Motorola Droid RAZR now available in blue in select stores, online May 17

Verizon this morning officially announced that a blue version of the Motorola Droid RAZR is available in select stores and will be sold online starting May 17. As we noted when we broke the news on Sunday, it's the same RAZR we've come to know and love (and wonder why it's still being sold when the MAXX exists), and it's still running Gingerbread.

Motorola RAZR MAXX to be officially available in the UK on May 18

We knew the Motorola RAZR MAXX was heading to the UK, and we even knew it was supposed to land officially in mid-May. But today British retailer Clove has announced that it'll officially begin shipping on May 18. For those unfamiliar with the MAXX, it packs a gigantic 3300mAh battery behind its 4.3-inch qHD display. Combined with UMTS and HSPA+ connectivity, that should give consumers a crazy amount of battery life on a single charge. If you're interested in this device be sure to keep your eyes peeled, as it can be yours in just over a week!

International Samsung Galaxy Note gets Ice Cream Sandwich

If you've got an the international HSPA+ version of the Samsung Galaxy Note (GT-N7000), then your months of waiting for Android 4.0 are finally over. The "Premium Suite" for the device, which includes ICS along with a range of other enhancements, is now pushing out to unlocked German Notes. The update to version XXLPY weighs in at over 300MB, and is currently available through Kies, as well as over-the-air via an automatic update.

As we discovered during our brief hands-on session with the North American ICS update, the Note remains fully TouchWiz'd, even on the latest version of Android. So if you're familiar with the look and feel of the Note's Gingerbread-based firmware, then you'll probably notice only a few minor visual changes. Of course, ICS brings improved performance all-round, which should help Note owners get more out of the device's beefy hardware. And the addition of the Roboto font gives the Note an added touch of class.

As for actual software enhancements, the "Premium Suite" bundles a new S Memo app with support for even richer content, including voice recordings. There's also an enhanced handwriting-to-text feature, and improved sharing capabilities for S Memo content.

If you're rocking an unlocked Note, head to Settings > About phone > Software updates to grab the latest OTA, or plug your phone into Kies to see if it's waiting for you. Remember that only German models are getting the ICS update for the time being, though if you know your way around ODIN, you can directly flash the German ROM regardless. (If you don't know what that means, it's probably best to just wait for your country/carrier's OTA.)

If you're already updated, be sure to drop by the comments and let us know what you think.